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Saturday, June 6, 2015

Studio Time: Twenty Eight

An Open Gate

Shooter
navigated the roundabout surrounding one of the many lighthouses in Sandy Point
and pulled up in front of the Sandy Point Diner. Considering the size of Sandy
Point, he found it amusing they had as many lighthouses as they did. That and the
bridges. The stop was ill-advised considering the rain clouds threatening a
downpour but hunger got the best of him. The tiny diner was his only option before
the last bridge out of town and he still had a long drive to South Beach.
Securing the tarp on the bed of his truck and confident he could keep an eye on
it if anyone got too curious, Shooter walked across the parking lot.

A small crowd
gathered around a pretty blonde. Contemplating the way she was dressed, she
must not have checked the weather app on her phone before she left the house. The
pink sunglasses were out of place considering the sun was nowhere to be seen. Some
guy stood next to her who looked vaguely familiar although he couldn't place
him. A studio musician from Red maybe? The guy was engrossed in what the chick
with pink sunglasses was saying. And she was saying a lot.

"If it
hadn't been for Rayne, Jimmy and I would be married right now. We had a nursery
set up and everything. Then she waltzed in, seduced him, and used him. She forced
him out of rehab, cut him off from all his real friends, and got him dependent
on her and the drugs she was using."

Some pretty
strong accusations, he thought, and probably just some groupie looking for her
fifteen minutes. Shooter kept walking until the next thing she said made him
pause.

"Rayne was
always putting on airs and acting like she was too good for the rest of us. She
only stuck around to keep manipulating Jimmy but she wouldn't live with him and
got her rich dad to buy her a house. She made him use, ruined Jimmy, and left
him alone and isolated. She broke us up and she never even loved him like I
did. She ruined Jimmy, ruined the band, and now she's taking the little bit the
band had left."

Man, the chick
had balls. Shooter thought he recognized a reporter from TMZ standing somewhat hidden in
the shadows behind a clump of palms. He couldn't be sure but he may have seen her at Rayne's place
when he and Duff had cleaned it out. Funny how the press wants to know
everything about your life once you're dead. What they don't know, they make
up.

"Vinnie
here can corroborate me. He's the bass player for Brew and they've been completely
screwed over by Rayne. She's going to get everything. She got tired of Jimmy
and probably knew he might OD from the drugs she gave him. We were doing fine
before she came along especially since I was doing Brew's PR. Rayne stole him
from me, seduced him with her money and her stupid contract, and made him promise not to see me. She was jealous and hurtful."

OK he'd heard
enough. Shooter went inside, ordered a burger and sat down to eat.
Unfortunately, the circus followed him. A smaller group huddled around the
jukebox and the blonde kept talking.

"Now she's
dating some rich guy. I heard he's in a band too and I also heard he's into
some weird shit and I mean really, weird shit. I'm a reporter so
I know how to find out about this stuff! Rayne is sick! She killed my Jimmy and
now she is screwing the rest of us over!"

Well fuck.
Maybe the girl was spouting bullshit or maybe he needed to be concerned. Only a select few people in Flight's inner circle knew about Duff's sexual proclivities. Shooter didn't care much one way or the other if Duff wanted to get his rocks off tying some chick up and spanking her, but if Duff's tendencies were coming back on Flight... Either way, and it
didn't matter which, he'd need to fill Duff in when he got to South Beach. And then he'd need to make a call to Rob and Blade.

**

Her father sang a lullaby. Drifting, not quite asleep, not quite awake, Rayne searched for and found that sweet early memory. The lullaby was about raindrops. He probably made it up as he sang it. He sang it over Skype. He sang it from the other side of the world.

Jimmy sometimes sang to her at night. In the first few hard weeks after they'd left rehab together, he sang to keep her from drinking, to keep both of them from drinking. They sat out on the back porch and watched the waves and sang, and kissed, and sang some more.

If she could keep sleeping...if she could keep sleeping until Duff came back...You're not sleeping.

"Duff's still there? I can't hear - ok he is still there but Shooter left with all her things. I'll call you right back."

"Shouldn't that gate be locked? We walked right in. You think anybody is here?"

"It's worth a look if we can get a comment from Rayne."

"If she's here, we'll get a comment. We'll get something."

"Can you believe this place? Damn, it's kick ass!"

"Wait a minute...I think I see somebody. Is that her?"

You couldn't hear anything in this place. It was on a dead end road that dead ended in water. It had walls. It had a waterfall. Rayne struggled up through what actually had been some kind of light sleep, trying to determine if she was dreaming the voices or hearing them.

There was a gate and the gate was locked. Before he left, Duff told her not to open the gate. There was a list of things he told her not to do, most of them things she wouldn't do anyway because she didn't feel like it or they were stupid things, and some of them she didn't want to do today. She never even thought of opening the gate.

"You know the other members of Brew say you're deliberately screwing them over with that contract - what're you getting out of that contract Rayne? We've got somebody out at Sandy Point who's talking to a girl - what's her name, oh yeah Judy - talking to Judy about what you did to Jimmy. Want to say anything about that Rayne?"

Clasping her hands behind her neck, Rayne took a shaking breath and tried to focus. What were they talking about? What contract? The contract her father had offered Jimmy? Who was Judy - Pink Sunglasses Judy - was that who they meant?

Rayne opened the door and stepped out warily into the heat. The water in the courtyard helped but the white walls reflected heat and light right back at you, and she blinked, and shifted her weight, and began to realize she was dealing with reporters. This she could do. She tapped bare toes on the tiles, crossed her arms and glared at them. "You know I don't have anything to say, and you're trespassing. Go away."

"Did you know Jimmy was suicidal? How long has it been since you last saw him?"

"Whose idea was it to leave rehab early?"

"Did you know he was engaged when you moved in with him?"

"Did you get Cooper to void that contract?"

They both talked at once. They were a pretty good team. She'd seen a lot better teams take on her father but these two might get there. Why would anyone think she had anything to do with that contract? It was Gemma's deal, not hers. Pink Sunglasses was never engaged to Jimmy. She had some nerve to say that now that he was dead. Her eyes began to sting. Had Jimmy killed himself?

The woman motored right on, throwing her hands around while she talked. She had red nail polish. Rayne looked fixedly at the red nail polish. If Camilla were here, she would slam the woman, she would have something very nasty and clever to say about the nail polish. Rayne had nothing. She felt hot. It was too hot.

Clearing her throat, digging her fingernails into her arms, Rayne lifted her chin and said, "Jimmy doesn't...didn't even like Pink Sunglasses."

That shut them up for about ten seconds. It wasn't what they expected from her. The man said, "Uh...you mean Judy?"

"So you deny her claim? You're denying everything is that right even though it's common knowledge that Cooper wrote that contract for you and you deliberately pushed Jimmy to perform right out of rehab in order to get publicity for yourself?"

She drew a deep breath, tasting the water in the air, still confused.

The man said, "Did you know Jimmy was holding your photo when he died?"

Rayne staggered. The back of her bare legs hit the glass and, off balance, she took a faltering step forward, raised her arms and shouted, "Get out! Get the fuck out of here! Do you hear me CAN YOU HEAR ME - GET OUT GET OUT!"

The woman smiled. "You need help Rayne. You really do sweetie."

She closed the door on them. She walked into the middle of Duff's enormous white room and did not look back at them.

"Do you think she's high? Do you think we can say that? Did you smell alcohol?"

"No but I recorded all of it and we can definitely say she's got some kind of problem."

"How long is it going to take Duff to get back here?"

"Hours. We've got plenty of time."

It was quiet. The waterfall splashed and the air conditioning hummed.

Jimmy was holding her photo when he died out there alone on the beach at night. He had been holding her photo.

She found her cell on the sideboard under those flowers and punched in Duff's number. She sent the text. Come back plz Duff.

He might not answer. He might not look. He might think it was on that list of things she wasn't supposed to do. If it had been, she didn't care.

It took him less than a minute. Leaving now cara.

It got dark. Rayne went out into the courtyard and lit a candle, and wrapped her arms around her legs and waited. She could use a drink. She could use a hundred drinks.

8 comments:

Oh Rayne...poor thing. So that's what was so urgent that she needed Duff to come back. She should've shoved them both into that pool. That would've shut them up. Well if she didn't feel bad before she certainly does now, but there was nothing anyone could do for Jimmy. Even if she went back to him he would've still been in a bad way. And that little pink glasses girl. I never did like her. I knew she would cause trouble. Well so far Rayne hasn't relapsed and I hope it stays that way but I honestly wouldn't blame her if she did given the circumstances. I hope Duff can handle this as it is certainly more than he bargained for. I'm really loving this story line and the deepening look we're getting of these characters.

Thank you Muzegoddess! Rayne is unraveling, confused, grieving. She could have held her own until they brought up the photo. Even if she couldn't help Jimmy, the guilt over leaving him will tear her apart. Duff is up to the challenge of caring for her. He doesn't yet know how deeply affected she is but I think he will soon. He has a lot of tools in his arsenal to help Rayne cope.

Pink Sunglasses is a real piece of work. Thank you again so much from both of us!

So Pink Sunglasses claims to be both a reporter... and a band manager? That's dodgy. I suppose most of her claims could probably be debunked by Jimmy's band, which makes her motivations even less clear. Seems more like a personal jab at Rayne than anything else--just a bit of scandal, even if it's short-lived.

Here's hoping Duff steps up to the plate here. Rayne is in a place where she's going to need a ton of support, and no mind games.

Pink Sunglasses has a lot of claims, none of them particularly relevant. She works for the local Sandy Point newspaper but her real involvement with Brew revolved around passing out flyers and looking important. Jimmy was with her for about a minute, if that. The key here, and we will probably draw that out a bit more, is that she has the ear of the remaining band members aside from Rayne. So yes, it is very personal and pretty much BS like Shooter thought. However...there are bigger fish on the hook now.

Duff will step up big. He doesn't really know what he has yet. He's about to find out. Focusing on these two has brought some interesting and important things to light. As we peel each layer away, you will get a complete picture. I hope.

I want to live there too. You know what I love about the game and these last two updates in particular is the contrast. Rayne's house was eclectic, shabby, colorful. Duff's house is clean, elegant, sparse, tasteful. That is exactly what Rayne needs - the peace and tranquility of Duff's house.

Thank you so much!!! And, uhh...Ietrin?????? I am really far behind but I saw that post...

Have we seen Pink Sunglasses before? I thought not but Van and muzegoddess's comments make me think I might just be forgetting her! It's been a long time, I guess! Anyway...don't like her, lol!

Poor Rayne. Even though I'm not keen on Duff, he has a huge opportunity here to be the support Rayne needs and I hope he can do it. She doesn't seem to really have anyone else right now. :\ I can't see her going to her folks.

Pink has been around since Rayne first hooked up with Jimmy but she showed up only once in a while. Pink presented herself as Jimmy's long term girlfriend. Jimmy ignored her. Rayne and Pink had one scalding encounter, and Rayne was kind of a bitchy snob when she slammed Ms Sunglasses. Pink's vendetta is definitely personal.

Rayne could use the support from Duff. She's not going to get what she needs from her family, and wouldn't feel comfortable going back home. Sometimes parents just don't have the right solutions. Duff will certainly try.

Echoing the poor Rayne sentiment here. I feel for the girl. I wish Camilla was there for her too. Those reporters have a lot of nerve. The trespassing, the antagonizing questions, the guilt tripping, the recording her without consent. What a pair indeed.

It's going to be interesting to see how she gets herself together when you've got reporters in your face and a loudmouth on a small island telling everyone that you're a homewrecker. Tough times ahead for Rayne and I hope Duff and Miranda and anyone else she needs will really be in her corner and supporting her.

Rayne's used to pushy reporters although the pushing was always directed at her father, and it turns out it's harder than it looked to push them back. She's truly horrified - nobody is really going to believe Judy about her 'engagement', but the mental image of Jimmy out there alone on the beach, dying with her photo in his hand, that's not something she will get over. Thank you so much for sticking with us.